SNAG (School Nutrition Action Group)

The St John's School Nutrition Action Group (SNAG) was formed around two years ago when the school started working towards the Healthy Schools Award. The SNAG is a group of parents, staff and health professionals who work together on activities which promote being healthy, whether that is through special food events in school, or encouraging children to cook at home or through physical activities. The aim is to encourage active learning about nutrition and health for children at St John's.

Over the past couple of years the SNAG team have worked with the teachers and children at St John's to put together a variety of food and/or health related events and activities that have been run either during or after school. In June 2007, we celebrated gaining National Healthy Schools status by holding the fun "Foodtastic" event where a number of food producers and suppliers came along to talk about what they did, as well as providing lots of tasters for the children to try! Two local chefs went head to head in a Ready Steady Cook style competition (ably assisted by two members of staff!) while a number of more energetic activities were also on offer, including a mini-aerobics class and scooter challenge outside. For those who wanted to try a bit of cooking, there was also the chance to make a fruit salad, a gorgeous fresh pesto or bread rolls.

We have held Mexican, American and Indian themed lunches where the school Cook has provided a school lunch in the style of a particular country, while parents and children have made huge efforts to get into the spirit of the theme by bringing in amazing themed packed lunches. We've also had a "fruity Friday" which brought inspirational and imaginative packed lunches full to the brim with a colourful variety of fruits and veg, which children proudly showed off and certainly enjoyed.

Last autumn saw the first Apple Crumble Challenge where many families kindly donated apples, which were then available for children to collect along with a recipe for an apple crumble to make at home. Children from both Infants and Juniors enjoyed making and baking, and returned to school with cooking skills developed and experiences to share with teachers and classmates.

It has been important for the SNAG to involve children in its planning, to try to ensure that any events being planning were what the children actually wanted. Meeting with the School Council produced many wonderful and exciting ideas including exploring the possibility of growing food in the school grounds. This will be one of this year's projects - one of the children's goals is to grow their own tomatoes so that they can then make a tomato sauce to be used when they make pizzas. How inspiring!